Clayton McMillan’s side were far from perfect but had enough to hold off French visitors

Champions Cup: Munster 33 Racing 92 25

On the night they honoured the memory of their legendary former number eight and coach Anthony Foley, a decade on from his passing in Paris, Munster did him the ultimate compliment of sealing an emotional night with a win in their opening Champions Cup game.

In truth, Munster played in fits and starts, but there were enough of them to always stay ahead of Racing, who also burst into life occasionally in what was not a vintage encounter, sprinkled with poor kicks and sloppy turnovers.

With Marnus van der Merwe again excellent, the set-pieces went well and there were more of the click strikes plays that have become a feature of the game. There were some magical moments from Charlie O’Shea and despite one glaring error, Craig Casey pulled the strings, finishing the tie with the final try at the end.

Among the tributes to Foley was a rendition of the Shannon anthem There is an Isle. Jack O’Donoghue was the only member of this matchday squad who was due to have played in Paris on that fateful day a decade ago and played against Glasgow a week later. Bearing this in mind, Foley’s wife, Olive, presented the jerseys to the Munster players on Friday and also movingly spoke of her husband to them.

There was also a minute’s silence, as there was at all grounds in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup matches, to honour the memory of the Lions player Hyron Andrews, who passed away in his hotel room ahead of their match in La Rochelle on Friday.

The two captains then exchanged number eight jerseys, as both retired that number for the night in further honour of Foley, with Brian Gleeson wearing the 24 jersey as CJ Stander had done against Glasgow. His counterpart and Racing captain Maxime Baudonne had no number on his back.

There was something in the air all right. Racing struck first with a monstrous maul and an opening penalty by Antoine Gibert. But Munster struck back more tellingly after one of those sharp strike plays and a wicked chip by O’Shea which led to Joey Manu conceding a five-metre scrum. Gleeson picked up off the base and charged to the blindside, bumping flanker Nicolas Martins, Baudonne and scrumhalf Antoine Latrasse for a fine finish.

O’Shea even converted from the right touchline in his nonchalant way. After a superb defensive maul by Munster, John Hodnett’s chop tackle and Dan Kelly’s jackal led to O’Shea finding touch 40 metres out and Munster struck again.

There was an element of luck, mind, as Alex Nankivell’s intended pull back for O’Shea went slightly behind the outhalf, who inadvertently flicked the ball into the hands of Shay McCarthy. He didn’t even break stride, leaving two defenders for dead with a step and acceleration before bumping Gibert to finish superbly.

Again, O’Shea landed a very difficult conversion before the crowd were becalmed by Racing’s extended ownership of the ball and territory. They were able to stymie Munster’s brief forays, helped by Karl Dickson awarding Jordan Joseph a jackal penalty when not remotely supporting his own body weight.

Munster put O’Shea in the backfield where he was targeted by the Racing halves, a spillage leading to another Gibert penalty when Thomas Ahern came into the maul from the side. But O’Shea made one great take and Racing kept spilling and turning over the ball, as when Seán O’Brien’s read and intercept was backed up by John Hodnett’s superb one-man clear out and Seán Edogbo fed O’Shea for a quick-witted kick into space. Nankivell chased and won the penalty but, Casey having ill-advisedly tapped a previous penalty, this time Munster couldn’t complete the lineout.

So Racing were let off the hook and a fairly average half of rugby, save for the two tries and O’Shea’s highlights reel, ended 14-6.

On the resumption, there was far more intent to the launch plays from which O’Shea carried over the gainline and in the ensuing phases – Edogbo carrying twice either side of Jack Aungier, before Tadhg Beirne took a good line off Casey to score at close-range.

But they coughed up a soft try when a loose Racing lineout was scooped up by Wilfried Hulleu, who sliced through a sleepy Munster pack simply by dint of stepping Gleeson. Racing were a better team with the experienced Maxime Machenaud at scrumhalf, albeit he went beyond his remit by finding himself at the sharp end of a mauled try.

Clayton McMillan turned to his bench and they delivered, Gavin Coombes and Jack O’Donoghue adding oomph to their carries and after Nankivell and Coombes had put them on the front foot, Casey deftly set up Fineen Wycherley to score with his first touch.

Back came Racing, Arthur Roche running back a Casey box kick and Hulleu offloading for Gerónimo Prisciantelli to make ground and release Manu for the try of the match – Gibert adding another fine conversion.

But Roche took out fullback Ben O’Connor in the air and re-energised by the crowd, Munster marched up field, went to the corner and mauled toward the line before, fittingly, Casey went blind and dummied Machenaud to apply the coup de grace.

Like Foley a Shannonman, Casey held up eight fingers and pointed to the skies before the wider squad congregated in the middle of the pitch to sing Stand Up and Fight, echoing the win over Glasgow a decade ago. Alas, by then, the vast bulk of the 24,906 crowd had dispersed.

SCORING SEQUENCE – 3 mins: Gibert pen, 0-3; 7: Gleeson try, O’Shea con, 7-3; 13: McCarthy try, O’Shea con, 14-3; 26: Gibert pen, 14-6; half-time 14-6; 43: Beirne try, O’Shea con, 21-6; 52: Hulleu try, 21-11; 53: Machenaud try, Gibert con, 21-18; 59: F Wycherley try, Hanrahan con, 28-18; 66: Manu try, Gibert con, 28-25; 79: Casey try 33-25.

MUNSTER: Ben O’Connor; Shay McCarthy, Alex Nankivell, Dan Kelly, Seán O’Brien; Charlie O’Shea, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Marnus van der Merwe, Jack Aungier; Tom Ahern, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Seán Edogbo, John Hodnett, Brian Gleeson.

Replacements: Jack O’Donoghue for Edogbo, Gavin Coombes for Gleeson (both 54 mins); Josh Wycherley for Loughman, Kieran Brookes for Aungier, JJ Hanrahan for O’Shea (all 57); Kieran Brookes for Aungier (58); Fineen Wycherley for Ahern (60); Max Clein for Van der Merwe (79).

Not used: Ben O’Donovan.

RACING 92: Gerónimo Prisciantelli; Wilfried Hulleu, Vinaya Habosi, Joey Manu, Sione Finau-Tupou; Antoine Gibert, Antoine Latrasse; Édouard-Junior Jabea Niocke, Diego Escobar, Giorgi Kharaishvili; Thomas Lainault, Jordan Joseph; Lekima Tagitagivalu, Nicolas Martins, Maxime Baudonne (capt).

Replacements: Demba Bamba for Kharaishvili, Maxime Machenaud for Latrasse (both 45 mins); Sam James for Habosi (49); Lehopa Leota for Jabea Njocke (53); Arthur Roche for Tupou (57); Nathan Hughes for Joseph (59); Yanis Basse for Escober, Soumalia Camara for Lainault (both 78).

Sinbinned: Roche (72 mins).

Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng).